And with that Ken Whisenhunt and Jay Gruden felt a little better about their chances after getting together with Eagles management Monday.

Whisenhunt, 50, guided the Arizona Cardinals to a 45-51 record in five seasons before getting axed earlier this month following a 5-11 season.

Whisenhunt is 4-2 in the playoffs, including a narrow loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. Give him a quarterback — even an aging veteran like Kurt Warner - and the underrated game day coach can hang with the best teams.

With Kevin Kolb healthy for just a handful of games, Whisenhunt’s Cardinals barely scored at all this past season which is why he’s looking for work.

Gruden, 45, is the offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals as well as the younger brother of Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden.

Jay Gruden basically said early in his interview process he anticipated being back with the Bengals but wanted to see how the system works.

The Eagles have interviewed 11 candidates that we know of.

Where they rank on the big board is a mystery to all but Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, general manager Howie Roseman and chief operating officer Don Smolenski. The search could be done before Thursday, according to a source. Right now the successor to Andy Reid, fired after 14 seasons, figures to be chosen from a cast of eight.

The Birds previously got together with Bradley, former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith, defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and special teams coach Keith Armstrong of the Atlanta Falcons, offensive coordinator Mike McCoy of the Denver Broncos and former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick.

Right now there are no plans to interview Bruce Arians, offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, per a spokesman.

Armstrong, 47, is a Temple U. product by way of Levittown. He’s also a special teams coach, which is to say a longshot.

The 58-year-old Billick is a great quote and good at deflecting heat from players who get in trouble with the law (Ray Lewis, Jamaal Lewis). Billick is not so adept at developing quarterbacks and scoring the points you need to stay competitive in the new NFL. With Ozzie Newsome finding the players, Billick guided the Ravens to an 80-64 record (.556).

Bradley’s Seahawks gave up a league-low 15.3 points in the regular season. They were shelled for 20 in the first half of their divisional loss to the Falcons.

And the Seahawks couldn’t stop quarterback Matt Ryan, who was 0-3 in the playoffs, from completing two passes for 41 yards in 12 seconds, thanks to two timeouts, enabling Matt Bryant to kick the game-winning field goal with eight ticks left.

Bradley has no real experience as a head coach save an interim stint on the Division II level with Fort Lewis College.

McCoy, 40, is a veteran play-caller whose claim to fame is winning a playoff game with quarterback Tim Tebow at Denver.

Nolan, more than any of the others, looks the part of head coach. He was 18-37 as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, where he never lived down the decision to draft quarterback Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers.

Smith, 54, is a defensive guru who would be a hard-sell after missing the playoffs in five of the last six seasons, including this past year when the Bears started 7-1. Smith is 84-66 in nine seasons, including 3-3 in the postseason with a Super Bowl appearance.